Over the past several decades our understanding and meticulous characterization of the transient and spatial properties of materials evolved rapidly. The results present an exciting field for discovery, and craft materials to control and reshape light that we are just beginning to fathom. State-of-the-art nano-deposition processes, for example, can be utilized to build stratified waveguides made of thin dielectric layers, which put together result in a material with effective abnormal dispersion. Moreover, materials once deemed well known are revealing astonishing properties, v.gr. chalcogenide glasses undergo an atomic reconfiguration when illuminated with electrons or photons, this ensues in a temporal modification of its permittivity and permeability which could be used to build new Photonic Integrated Circuits..
This work revolves around the characterization and model of heterogeneous and time-varying materials and their applications, revisits Maxwell's equations in the context of nonlinear space- and time-varying media, and based on it introduces a numerical scheme that can be used to model waves in this kind of media. Finally some interesting applications for light confinement and beam transformations are shown.
Date of Award | Nov 2014 |
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Original language | English (US) |
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Awarding Institution | - Computer, Electrical and Mathematical Sciences and Engineering
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Supervisor | Boon Ooi (Supervisor) |
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- Maxwell Equations
- Hyperbolic Problem
- Waves
- Time-Varying
- Metamaterials
- Photonics